KOLM33BSS Principles of Strategic Leadership / Spring 2016

Lecturer Svend GlüsingISSUE DATE 11-February 2016 SUBMISSION The coursework must be submitted no later than 23:45 on 29-April: 1. electronically through Wiseflow 2. in two hard copies to IBA Administrator, Robert Whittle (can be delivered by noon on Monday 2nd May) REPORT REQUIREMENTS Word count 6.000 words in length plus references and any appendices Maximum/Minimum/Range: 10% Any penalties for not complying with word limits will be in accordance with University and Faculty policy. Type Individual Form Essay Style The coursework will be in a format with page numbers, section headings, etc and appropriately referenced using the CU Harvard Style. In Microsoft Word you can use the auto style function, choose “Harvard”. Download the Coventry University Harvard Reference Style on http://www.coventry.ac.uk/study-at-coventry/student-support/academicsupport/ centre-for-academic-writing/support-for-students/academic-writingresources/ cu-harvard-reference-style-guide/ Please note: 1. All work submitted after the submission deadline without an approved valid reason (see below) will be failed. 2. Short deferrals (extensions) of up to three calendar weeks can only be given for genuine "force majeure" and medical reasons, not for bad planning of your time. Please note that theft, loss, or failure to keep a back-up file, are not valid reasons. The short deferral must be applied for on or before the submission date. You can apply for a short or long deferral by submitting an Examination/ Coursework Deferral Application Form. Relevant application forms are available from and should be submitted to the Programme Administrator. Please make sure that your ID number and the module number appear on the actual coursework assignment as well as on the cover sheet that you attach to it (but don’t put your name for individual assignments as marking is anonymous). Plagiarism warning! – Assignments should not be copied in part or in whole from any other source, except for any marked up quotations, that clearly distinguish what has been quoted from your own work. All references used must be given, and the specific page number used should also be given for any direct quotations, which should be in inverted commas. Students found copying from the internet or other sources will get zero marks and may be excluded from the university. INTENDED MODULE LEARNING OUTCOMES 2 Coursework Assignment KOLM33BSS Principles of Strategic Leadership / Spring 2016 Lecturer Svend Glüsing The intended learning outcomes are that on completion of this module the student should be able to: 1. Develop a critical understanding of theoretical models and issues associated with the concept of strategic leadership within organizations. 2. Synthesise material from various sources to develop an evidence-based perspective on leadership. 3. Demonstrate knowledge and skills to critically appraise successful leadership in a variety of contexts and industry sectors This assignment will assess learning outcomes 1 and 3. ASSIGNMENT Great managers seem scarce. And according to Randall Beck and James Harter ( (Beck & Harter, 2014) many companies have many people with leadership and management talents in non-managerial positions, and vice versa, a lot of managers and leaders with no, or limited leadership skills and talents. Read the annex text and critically assess this statement and include some of the main concepts and principles of strategic leadership in your discussion, and elaborate to what extent these concepts and principles are applicable within different industry sector organizations and cultures - illustrated with industry examples/practice. In particular, highlight how poor managers can develop and improve their personal leadership skills, and how employees with managerial talents in non-managerial positions can be discovered, developed, and prepared for a managerial position. Provide examples from readings, research and/or case studies to underpin your argumentation. ASSESSMENT CRITERIA AND MARKING SCHEME The paper will be assessed using the following criteria: Assessment criteria Mark allocation Critically assess the statement that “Good Managers Are Rare” Identify and critically examine the main principles of strategic leadership and discuss to what extent these differ from the traditional framework of organizational management. Critically assess to what extent these are applicable within different industry sector organizations and cultures Use of industry examples/practice to assist the answer Integration of theoretical models from study materials, readings on the module and/or case studies to underpin the argumentation. 15 % 35 % 20 % 10 % 10 % Structure, layout and presentation, including a natural flow in the development of the essay and a good conclusion that develops findings from the main part. 5 % Correctly reference all published material included in the paper 5 % 3 Coursework Assignment KOLM33BSS Principles of Strategic Leadership / Spring 2016 Lecturer Svend Glüsing GUIDELINES ON WRITING A COURSEWORK ESSAY Preparation Think carefully about what you have been asked. Research the topic, drawing on information from lectures and tutorials, plus relevant books and articles. Make sure that you are familiar with the major debates or viewpoints. Answer the question, the whole question, and nothing but the question! Structure Introduction Start with addressing the question. Set out what you are going to look at in the essay, state what the significant issues are, and say how you propose to examine them. This has two consequences: (1) It compels you to discipline yourself and address the question in a relevant fashion, and (2) It shows the reader that you are in control of the subject. Main arguments / discussion Unfold the main arguments in a coherent sequence, bringing relevant evidence to bear on the points being made. Points should always be substantiated and sources acknowledged. Do not base your essay on unsubstantiated assertion. All arguments are based on evidence and it is important, therefore, to be able to cite relevant items of evidence in support of an interpretation or argument. Use paragraph breaks carefully to help structure your argument. Each paragraph should introduce, develop, make and substantiate a point, and prepare the way for the next paragraph and the next point. Conclusion Draw together your ideas, summarize your argument and demonstrate that you have answered the question. Points that can help an essay to be in a presentable, consistent, written style ? Be clear in your use of words ? Do not leave the reader to guess the meaning. Ask, could this mean anything else? ? Be concise in you use of words ? Do not string a lot of ideas together in one sentence. Avoid verbosity. Proof reading Check that you mean what you write and write what you mean. Avoid typing errors and errors of spelling and grammar. Using the Spelling Tool in Microsoft Word (or similar) may be helpful but this will not pick up all mistakes. For instance, form and from, where and were, are often missed. There and their, principal and principle and use of American language may all be confused. 4 Coursework Assignment KOLM33BSS Principles of Strategic Leadership / Spring 2016 Lecturer Svend Glüsing Why Good Managers Are So Rare by Randall Beck and James Harter | 8:00 AM March 13, 2014 Gallup has found that one of the most important decisions companies make is simply whom they name manager. Yet our analysis suggests that they usually get it wrong. In fact, Gallup finds that companies fail to choose the candidate with the right talent for the job 82% of the time. Bad managers cost businesses billions of dollars each year, and having too many of them can bring down a company. The only defense against this massive problem is a good offense, because when companies get these decisions wrong, nothing fixes it. Businesses that get it right, however, and hire managers based on talent will thrive and gain a significant competitive advantage. Managers account for at least 70% of variance in employee engagement scores across business units, Gallup estimates. This variation is in turn responsible for severely low worldwide employee engagement. Gallup reported in two large-scale studies in 2012 that only 30% of U.S. employees are engaged at work, and a staggeringly low 13% worldwide are engaged. Worse, over the past 12 years these low numbers have barely budged, meaning that the vast majority of employees worldwide are failing to develop and contribute at work. Gallup has studied performance at hundreds of organizations and measured the engagement of 27 million employees and more than 2.5 million work units over the past two decades. No matter the industry, size, or location, we find executives struggling to unlock the mystery of why performance varies so immensely from one workgroup to the next. Performance metrics fluctuate widely and unnecessarily within most companies, in no small part from the lack of consistency in how people are managed. This “noise” frustrates leaders because unpredictability causes great inefficiencies in execution. Executives can cut through this noise by measuring what matters most. Gallup has discovered links between employee engagement at the business-unit level and vital performance indicators, including customer metrics; higher profitability, productivity, and quality (fewer defects); lower turnover; less absenteeism and shrinkage (i.e., theft); and fewer safety incidents. When a company raises employee engagement levels consistently across every business unit, everything gets better. To make this happen, companies should systematically demand that every team within their workforce have a great manager. After all, the root of performance variability lies within human nature itself. Teams are composed of individuals with diverging needs related to morale, motivation, and clarity — all of which lead to varying degrees of performance. Nothing less than great managers can maximize them. 5 Coursework Assignment KOLM33BSS Principles of Strategic Leadership / Spring 2016 Lecturer Svend Glüsing But first, companies have to find those great managers. If great managers seem scarce, it’s because the talent required to be one is rare. Gallup finds that great managers have the following talents: They motivate every single employee to take action and engage them with a compelling mission and vision. They have the assertiveness to drive outcomes and the ability to overcome adversity and resistance. They create a culture of clear accountability. They build relationships that create trust, open dialogue, and full transparency. They make decisions that are based on productivity, not politics. Gallup’s research reveals that about one in ten people possess all these necessary traits. While many people are endowed with some of them, few have the unique combination of talent needed to help a team achieve excellence in a way that significantly improves a company’s performance. These 10%, when put in manager roles, naturally engage team members and customers, retain top performers, and sustain a culture of high productivity. Combined, they contribute about 48% higher profit to their companies than average managers. It’s important to note that another two in 10 exhibit some characteristics of basic managerial talent and can function at a high level if their company invests in coaching and developmental plans for them. In studying managerial talent in supervisory roles compared with the general population, we find that organizations have learned ways to slightly improve the odds of finding talented managers. Nearly one in five (18%) of those currently in management roles demonstrate a high level of talent for managing others, while another two in 10 show a basic talent for it. Still, this means that companies miss the mark on high managerial talent in 82% of their hiring decisions, which is an alarming problem for employee engagement and the development of high-performing cultures in the U.S. and worldwide. Sure, every manager can learn to engage a team somewhat. But without the raw, natural talent to individualize; focus on each person’s needs and strengths; boldly review their team members; rally people around a cause; and execute efficient processes, the day-to-day experience will burn out both the manager and his or her team. As noted earlier, this basic inefficiency in identifying talent costs companies hundreds of billions of dollars annually. Conventional selection processes are a big contributor to inefficiency in management practices; little science or research is applied to find the right person for the managerial role. When Gallup 6 Coursework Assignment KOLM33BSS Principles of Strategic Leadership / Spring 2016 Lecturer Svend Glüsing asked U.S. managers why they believed they were hired for their current role, they commonly cited their success in a previous non-managerial role or their tenure in their company or field. These reasons don’t take into account whether the candidate has the right talent to thrive in the role. Being a very successful programmer, salesperson, or engineer, for example, is no guarantee that someone will be even remotely adept at managing others. Most companies promote workers into managerial positions because they seemingly deserve it, rather than because they have the talent for it. This practice doesn’t work. Experience and skills are important, but people’s talents — the naturally recurring patterns in the ways they think, feel, and behave — predict where they’ll perform at their best. Talents are innate and are the building blocks of great performance. Knowledge, experience, and skills develop our talents, but unless we possess the right innate talents for our job, no amount of training or experience will matter. Very few people are able to pull off all five of the requirements of good management. Most managers end up with team members who are at best indifferent toward their work — or are at worst hell-bent on spreading their negativity to colleagues and customers. However, when companies can increase their number of talented managers and double the rate of engaged employees, they achieve, on average, 147% higher earnings per share than their competition. It’s important to note — especially in the current economic climate — that finding great managers doesn’t depend on market conditions or the current labor force. Large companies have approximately one manager for every 10 employees, and Gallup finds that one in 10 people possess the inherent talent to manage. When you do the math, it’s likely that someone on each team has the talent to lead. But given our findings, chances are that it’s not the manager. More likely, it’s an employee with high managerial potential waiting to be discovered. The good news is that sufficient management talent exists in every company – it’s often hiding in plain sight. Leaders should maximize this potential by choosing the right person for the next management role using predictive analytics to guide their identification of talent. For too long, companies have wasted time, energy, and resources hiring the wrong managers and then attempting to train them to be who they’re not. Nothing fixes the wrong pick. Source: Beck, R. & Harter, J., 2014. hbr.org. [Online] Available at: https://hbr.org/2014/03/why-good-managers-are-so-rare/ [Accessed 13 March 2014].